"I still don't see how you managed to get a parking meter stuck under the Sewer Sled." Donnie's voice was muffled as he lay underneath a vehicle set on lifts that looked like a cross between a jet ski and a large snowmobile, tools scattered around him neatly for easy access. "This vehicle is for use in the sewer tunnels only, there aren't even any parking meters down here!"

Raph bent down to peer underneath. "Yeah... it's wedged good in there, isn't it? Pretty impressive, huh?"

"That's... not the descriptive word I would've chosen personally." Donnie said dryly. He gave a strained grunt, obviously exerting pressure on something, then there was a clank of metal and several creative cuss words came streaming out from under the vehicle.

"Uh... you okay?" Raph raised an eyeridge.

"Fine! Fine!" Donnie hissed, obviously not feeling okay at the moment. "I'm just peachy!" He rolled out from under the sled, a scowl on his face. "Hand me the blow torch, will you? I'm cutting this thing out."

Raph obediently retrieved the requested object from the shelf as Donnie sat up, and handed his purple brother the blowtorch.

"Uhhh... yo, Donnie?" Mikey leaned his head in, peeking through the open doorway into the workshop.

"A little busy here, Mikey." Donnie's tongue stuck out slightly as he lowered his goggles and held the blow torch in one hand, preparing to light it. "Is this important?"

"Kiiiiinda?" Mikey drawled out with a shrug. "Just wanted to let you know that the alarm for the Shell-Garage is going off."

"Wait, what?!" Donnie immediately extinguished the lighter in his hand and looked up in shock.

Raph bolted upright in alarm. "My bike is in there!"

"Yup." Mikey nodded. "And the security screens show some hobo walking around the workshop." He shrugged and turned to go. "Anyways, just thought you'd want to know, dudes."

"Oh, for the love of Gottfried Leibniz! Really?!" Donnie spat, grabbing a rag and wiping off his hands as he followed Raph and Mikey back towards the lab to see.

"Somebody broke into our garage!" Raph huffed indignantly at the security monitor screen. "Donnie! How did somebody break into our garage?! You said it was secured!"

They were all in Donnie's lab now, crowded around the security monitors. Donnie had quickly taken his place in his chair and had pulled up the security footage, showing a heavily cloaked figure wandering around the dark garage above them.

"It is secure." Donnie frowned, typing in a few things on a nearby console and glancing at the coding that came up. "The security system I installed is state of the art, and so far, none of our defenses have been exposed. It seems that whoever this is entered in one of the old security codes that were compromised back when the NeoFoot hacked us."

"And it still let whoever that is into the garage?!" Far from reassured, Raph continued to looked distressed by the situation as he turned back and forth from the screen to Donnie in disbelief. "Donnie! The heck?!"

"Relax, Raph. We're not in any danger. We're basically in an underground bunker now, and I have several contingency plans in place now. Please, have a little faith in me." Donnie scoffed, looking almost a little offended. "I've planned for this, and by entering in an old code, several key security features have activated without that user's knowledge." Donnie leaned forward in his office chair to peer closely at the security monitor. "I'm not sure if our new lair's location has been compromised yet, and I didn't want to confirm any suspicions by tipping our hands too early. We're safe, as the hidden entrance to the lair is now completely sealed shut from the inside. Even if they somehow got past that, until I manually override the lockdown procedure, the elevator to get down here now needs both a hand and retinal scan from an authorized user to operate."

"I'm an authorized user!" Mikey chirped in proudly, still leaning in to watch the stranger on the screen.

"Yes. Yes you are, Mikey." Donnie said patronizingly, not missing a beat. "And all the lair's defensive and offensive are now on standby and waiting. If there's even the slightest sign of hostility, I can set them off and neutralize any threat within seconds. We're not going to have a repeat of last time."

"He's going to touch my bike!" Raph's knuckles were gripping the back of Donnie's chair so tightly that his knuckles turned a little white. "I swear, if he touches my bike..."

"Your bike will be fine, Raph." Donnie rolled his eyes. "Trust me, guys." Donnie tried to reassure them. "As far as that guy knows right now," he gestured towards the figure on the screen, "he just walked into an empty garage. The entrance to the lair is completely concealed from his side, with no way for him to open it."

Donnie pressed a few more buttons, and several more screens lit up, each of them showing the garage from different angles.

"Well, he seems to be alone." He squinted and leaned forward, studying the figure moving around the dark garage closely. "I don't see any other heat signatures on the infrared screens. I do have to say, whoever it is, they have a unique fashion sense. It almost looks like they raided the trash bin behind a Goodwill store."

"Ooh! Maybe a pile of old laundry got doused in mutagen and came to life as a mutant!" Mikey theorized excitedly.

"Mikey... be serious." Donnie gave him a look.

"Oh man, it's been forever since I've been able to name a new mutant!" Mikey held up his hands, waving them in the air excitedly. "I shall call him, 'Laundro-man!'. Get it? Kind of like Laundromat? Or, OOH! How about 'Laundro Calrissian? Ow!"

Leaving Mikey rubbing his head ruefully, Raph unfurled his fist and flexed his fingers as he turned back to the screen and frowned, watching the figure slowly walking around the garage with narrowly slitted eyes. "Do you think it's a NeoFoot?"

"Unlikely." Donnie tapped his finger against the desktop absently as he also considered the figure carefully. "The NeoFoot have a very distinct style of uniform, and they don't usually deviate from that. They're usually quite... zealous... about showing that they are ninja, and so far haven't actually stooped to the level of actually using a practical disguise. Such as dressing as an actual hobo." He snorted and gestured towards the screen.

"Dudes, you keep putting down his fashion sense, but you're missing the key piece here!" Mikey enthused. "Those are some pretty awesome ski goggles he's wearing! Dibs on them, by the way, if this is a bad guy."

"Wait, is he really...? He is wearing tinted ski googles!" Donnie blinked, just noticing them. "The lights are off in the building. How is he getting around in the dark?!"

"So... who is it?" Raph growled, obviously not quite as concerned about the intruder's fashion choices as his brothers were. "Don't tell me that some random hobo off the street got lucky and guessed the code. He's obviously looking for us. Why? Is he alone, or is he working for somebody?"

The figure moved slowly forward, and gently, almost relevantly, ran his hand over the motorcycle, feeling the leather of the seat and moving up towards the handlebars. The heavily clothed figure paused when he felt the helmet dangling there, and then carefully moved to pick it up in both hand, bringing it up towards his unseen face.

Raph's hands slapped the counter as he lurched forward to watch, obviously scandalized. "He fuckin' touched my bike! He's dead!"

"Is he... smelling Raph's helmet?!" Mikey wondered in disbelief. "Why? Why would anybody do that voluntarily?"

Donnie, who had been tapping one finger against the console, sighed and reached up to push a button.

Instantly, there was a hiss as a misty white cloud poured out of hidden vents in the wall, quickly filling the garage. The figure on screen immediately jumped, quickly dropping the helmet and reaching towards his back with lightning speed just before the cloudy mist completely obscured their vision.

"Uhhhh..."

Both Raph and Mikey had not been expecting that. They blinked at the screen, then hesitantly glanced at Donnie.

"Oh, relax. It's just sleeping gas." Donnie waved off their concerned looks.

"Wait. You have the ability to gas the workshop?!" Raph glanced between his purple brother and the screen. Obviously this troubling piece of information was news to him.

"Yes." Donnie apparently completely missed the horrified tone in Raph's voice as he nodded, studying the screen and tapping a finger against his arm absently. "It's one of the protective measures I put into place." Then he noticed the looks both of his brothers were giving him and rolled his eyes. "Oh, relax. It's perfectly safe. Whoever it is will be fine. It'll wear off in less then half an hour with little to no side effects."

And when the white cloud dissipated a moment later, the three brothers could see the motorcycle helmet rolling across the floor, and the heavily clothed hobo laying sprawled face down and motionless on the floor, a drawn steel blade laying on the ground in front of him, clutched in a now-slack gloved hand.

"Harmless hobo, my ass!" Raph snarled when he noticed the blade, pointing at the screen accusingly. "Fucker had a katana on him!"

"Come on." Donnie stood up from his chair and started towards the exit, waving for the others to follow. "Let's get to him before he wakes up, or any friends he might have show up. I want to know who he is, and why he was in our garage."

"Just remember, I called dibs on the shades!" Mikey followed after him eagerly.

"...And this is how you unlock the garage after a lockdown alert." Donnie finished up as the seemingly seamless wall in the garage slid up, revealing a hallway behind it that they stepped in from. "I swear, guys, I covered this already with you! You need to pay attention, this sort of information is important." He clicked a button on the cuff on his wrist, and the lights in the garage blinked to life, illuminating the whole building in the bright glow of electrical lighting.

And there, laying unconscious in the middle of the garage next to Raph's bike, was a formless and unmoving heap of mismatched heavy clothing.

Donnie quickly moved over and nudged the fallen katana out of the stranger's mittened grasp with his foot, and reached down to pick it up, examining it closely and frowning. "High carbon steel, precision balance, finely tempered... This blade was meant for combat. And, judging by the quality of the work and the elaborate decorations, this isn't just the run of the mill grunt Foot's sword, this would have been made for somebody very high in the ranks somewhere."

Raph had his sais out, on edge and ready to attack if needed. He leaned over and hissed as he saw the signs of Foot Clan insignia and symbols etched into the elaborately decorated blade. He looked between the sword and the fallen figure on the floor, tense and agitated. "Fuck. They found us again."

Donnie didn't look so sure as he glanced down at the motionless figure laying on the floor. "Whoever that is, they're not exactly dressed like a Foot Elite. And a high ranking officer in the NeoFoot probably wouldn't have been sent out on a mere scouting mission."

"Well, whoever it is, they're poking their nose where it doesn't belong." Raph roughly nudged the stranger's heavily clothed leg with a toe suspiciously. "What do we do with him?"

"Tie him up and question him when he wakes up, I suppose. I don't like the idea of taking him down to the lair, so we'll have to find someplace secure offsite. " Donnie set the sword on his desk and went about to reset some of the security alarms. "Fortunately, he should still be out cold for at least another fifteen to twenty minutes, so we have time to... Mikey! Get away from him!" Donnie just noticed what their youngest brother was up to.

Mikey was kneeling down by the intruder's heavily scarfed face, tapping on the tinted ski goggles that covered up much of his face.

"What do you think you're doing?!" Donnie scolded him. "What if he wakes up?!"

"Chill, bro." Mikey reached down to pull off the coveted ski goggles, examining them with admiration. "You said yourself that he..." He froze midsentence as the goggles slid off, revealing a strip of blue cloth underneath and a portion of the stranger's face, and his jaw dropped and his expression immediately turned to one of shock, then absolute and uncharacteristic panic. He quickly threw the goggles off to the side and instead lunged forward to cradle the intruder's face in both of his hands. "Leo! Guys! It's LEO!"

Donnie and Raph froze.

"WHAT?!"

Mikey was already hurriedly unwrapping and peeling away the scarf and hat to show heartbreakingly familiar green scales and a blue mask, mouth slack and eyes closed.

"LEO!" Donnie choked, and he immediately dove forward to kneel by their unconscious brother.

Mikey was patting his unconscious brother's cheeks frantically. "Leo, come on, bro, wake up! Please wake up! Leo!"

Leo remained limp in his grasp, obviously out cold, and didn't respond to his touch. Donnie swore under his breath, and quickly moved to start to peel off the layers of mismatching clothing.

"L-Leo?!" Raph whispered hoarsely, standing off to the side and staring blankly. "L-Leo?! It... it can't be. He's... he's..."

"He's not waking up, Donnie!" Mikey sounded on the verge of panic, cradling his unresponsive brother's head.

"It's the sleeping gas." Donnie said through gritted teeth. "He'll be okay, he's just unconscious." Breathing hard with eyes wide, Donnie's hands were nonetheless steady as he peeled off one of the mittens on Leo's hand and grabbed his wrist, feeling the pulse and quickly assessing his brother's condition. "His pulse is strong and his breathing is regular." He frowned, grabbing the sleeve of the coat. "He's completely soaked to the bone! Guys, help me get these clothes off him. We need to get him dried off and warmed up. I need to check his vitals!" he quickly ordered.

Raph still seemed to be in some form of shock, standing there, wide eyes never leaving Leo's unconscious face. "He-he fell... Back in the plane. I saw him fall out of the plane. There... there's no way... he... "

"Raphael!" Donnie snapped at him, and Raph gave a startled jolt. "Focus! Help me get the rest of his clothing off." Donnie was in full medical crisis management mode, and any emotions he might've felt were currently completely buried under the logical facts of the moment.

Raph swallowed hard, then quickly nodded. He moved to kneel down on the other side of Leo, and his hands hovered shakily for just a moment, as if he was afraid to touch Leo, lest this turn out to be just a cruel illusion or dream. But no... the scaled arm he touched was definitely solid, real, and warm.

"He's... he's really alive." Raph whispered in disbelief, choking back tears. "Leo's... alive!"

Leo's face was relaxed with his eyes closed, the only movement was the slow and steady breathing. It was so surreal, looking down on that face he thought he'd never see again. He... he didn't look too bad, at a quick glance. He looked like he had been eating well, and Raph could see all the old, familiar scars etched on his older brother's scales and plastron, including the deep gouges left by the Shredder so long ago, but he didn't notice any major new ones.

"I knew he was still alive! I just knew it!" Mikey's panic was quickly transforming into overwhelming joy and elation. "I told you guys that he was still alive! I could feel it!"

"H-he's not waking up Donnie." Raph still sounded extremely shaken, trembling slightly as he helped lift Leo's limp form up so they could get the coat off, his eyes rarely leaving Leo's face. "Why isn't he waking up? He's... he's going to be okay, right?"

"He's fine. It's just the gas." Donnie exhaled a little shakily, a little guilt creeping up into his expression, but then he steeled up again and went back to carefully removing the coat sleeve from Leo's limp arm. "The sleeping gas should wear off with little to no side effects. Oh gods. If... if I had known it was Leo, I-I would've never..."

"We know, Dee." Mikey had grabbed a few towels, and as soon as the coat was off, he began chafing and rubbing down Leo's damp arms and shell. "None of us realized that it was Leo. How could've you known?!" He paused leaned over and ran a hand over Leo's head, now bare except for the blue mask. "Leo! Bro! What were you even wearing dude?!"

Donnie swallowed hard, and nodded. "Raph, help me get Leo up on the cot." he ordered, shifting around to get into a better position. "He'll be more comfortable, and I'll be able to get a better look at him. Mikey, grab the medical kit for me, will you?"

"Of course!" Mikey bolted off to do as bidden.

Carefully, Raph and Donnie carefully lifted the unconscious Leo off the cement floor, and carried him over to the cot set against the wall, which Mikey had just hurriedly cleared of blankets and boxes. They set him down gently on his shell, and Donnie quickly grabbed a chair and pulled up close.

Mikey came up with the requested well-stocked medical bag, setting it on a side table within Donnie's reach. "Oh man, this is real, isn't it?! It's not a dream! Leo's actually here!" he stared at their long lost eldest brother with stunned blue eyes.

Donnie continued his examination, running his hand lightly over Leo's plastron, feeling for cracks or wounds. "Well, the good news is, he seems healthy enough. He's not malnourished, so he's been getting enough to eat. I don't see any obvious injuries either."

"Two years!" Raph snarled, his shock and fear quickly devolving into anger and worry. "It's been nearly two whole fuckin' years, and he couldn't be bothered to let us know he was still alive?!"

"Maybe... maybe he couldn't?" Mikey chewed his lip worriedly, never taking his eyes off of Leo's face. "Maybe he was being held prisoner or something..."

Raph's eyes widened at the thought.

Donnie paused, then lifted one of Leo's arms and examined his wrists carefully and with a touch of trepidation, before exhaling with some degree of relief, "I don't see any signs or scars from ropes or restraints."

Raph gave a shaky exhale at the thought, and wrapped his arms around himself, hugging tightly. "I'm just saying... he'd better have a good excuse." he muttered stubbornly, looking slightly away. "Two fuckin' years of thinkin' he was dead."

Donnie reached over and grabbed a penlight, and leaned over to gently lift one of Leo's eyelids with his thumb, intent on looking at his pupils. Almost immediately, he made a weird noise in the back of his throat as he stiffened, the pen slipping from frozen fingers as he gaped at his brother with an expression of pure horror.

"Donnie?!" Mikey didn't like that look on his face, and felt a surge of fear wash over him. He grabbed Leo's hand in panic, leaning forward to try and see what Donnie saw."Donnie, what is it?"

"Oh no." Donnie whispered in horror, then he half leapt out of the chair, grabbing Leo's head in both hands and lifting both eyelids, closely examining both eyes in a frenzied panic. "Oh no no no NO!" Tears began to well in his eyes, and he leaned down to press his forehead against Leo's with almost a sob of grief. "Oh, Leo! My brother! No!"

"Donnie?!" both Raph and Mikey now wore equal expressions of panic at this outburst, obviously realizing that something must be seriously wrong.

"What's wrong with him?!" Raph asked, his voice shaking. "What's wrong with Leo?!"

Donnie took a deep, shaky breath, tears streaming down his cheek as he kept his face pressed against Leo's unconscious one. "I... He..." He swallowed hard, then whispered hoarsely, "Guys. I'm pretty sure that Leo's... blind."

There was a moment of silence, as if the air had been knocked out of all three of them.

Raph's mouth opened and closed like a fish for a few seconds, before he finally croaked out, "B-Blind?"

"You mean... he... he can't see anything anymore?!" Mikey asked in disbelief.

Donnie shook his head quickly, turning back to Leo and brushing a thumb over his face gently. "There is a heavy layer of scar tissue that looks old and healed over." He shrugged helplessly. "My guess is it's from the chemical burns he suffered back in the cargo plane."

There was a long moment as they could only stare at their older brother, laying there on the cot, now brought back to them two years after they were sure he was dead.

Finally, Mikey hugged himself tightly, swallowing hard. Then he exhaled shakily, and glanced at Raph. "Well... I'd say that's a pretty good excuse, huh?"

Raph could only stare at Leo helplessly.

The same thought was running through all their minds at that moment.

For nearly two years, Leo had been trying to find his way back to them, while... blind? Leo had been dumped in an ocean half a world away in the middle of a storm. He was a mutant in a world that feared and despised them.

Two years?

It was a miracle that their brother made it back to them at all.

Mikey wiped his tears away stubbornly, then clasped Leo's hand tightly, hugging it close to him. "Thank you..." he finally whispered quietly. "Thank you for surviving. Thank you for coming back, big brother."

Raph gave a shaky, gasping exhale, then stepped forward and reached down to touch his currently unconscious brother's cheek gently. "You did it, Leo. You found us. Everything is going to be okay now." His voice was thick and broke slightly. "Now it's our turn to take care of you for once. Now... now you'll be safe. I promise."

A/N

Well, oops? Not exactly the way that Leo envisioned the reunion, I'm sure. Trust me, once Leo wakes up, we're going to get all the brotherly fluffs and loves. Several chapters worth, probably. Maaaaybe served with a heaping side helping of traumatized brothers and more then just a little sprinkle of overprotective zealousness.

For those wondering if Leo finding his brothers is where the story is going to end, it's not. It's hard to tell, as I'm improvising with this story more then most I've written so far, but I'm thinking that we're at the halfway point in the story now? Possibly a third of the way even, as it all depends on how the characters decide the story is going to play out.